As the Capital gears up for the Commonwealth Games, Jahnavi Prasad of Youth 4 Gandhi Foundation and Member of Parliament Priya Dutt have launched a multi-media awareness campaign connecting Mahatma Gandhi's selfless beliefs and inclusive philosophy with sportsman spirit.
The idea behind the online campaign, “Gandhi and Sports Gen 2010”, is to drive children to think, read, act and imbibe anything about Gandhi that they like while creating their works for the campaign.
Sharing some of her Gandhian values, Ms. Dutt said her father, the late Sunil Dutt, was a perfect Gandhian and she learnt the philosophy from him. “We need to have peace, harmony, love and respect for our countrymen. Through Lage Raho Munna Bhai that popularised Gandhigiri I realised how people can identify with the great man. The film inspired me and showcased Gandhian beliefs to the young generation.”
“Bapu should be someone who is part of all of us. You can associate him with a number of things. Sport has been chosen because it cuts across colour, creed and religion. If there is a sports team, then people don't identify players as Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. With the Commonwealth Games only a few weeks away, we want the whole country to be proud of the mega sporting event,” she added.
According to Ms. Dutt, who is judging the contest, the campaign gives the public and government school students the freedom to express their thoughts using film, animation, illustration, audio and painting. “We will get to know how our children perceive Gandhi. Children from government and private schools have different sensibilities.”
“Sport is a medium of peace and Gandhi is the biggest icon of peace. We leave it to the child's imagination to beautifully connect the two,” said Youth 4 Gandhi Foundation founder Jahnavi Prasad.
Children can submit their entries online up to September 15.
